Gripping devices are used in many applications. For example, joining together wire strands in fencing applications, to suspend an object from a wire, to suspend sports equipment, or to suspend objects from structural elements of a building.
Gripping devices are known from the patent documents referred to below:
GB 2210517, WO 95/30844 and WO 97/36123 describe examples of wire gripping devices in which toothed wedges grip the wire.
GB2240581 describes a gripping device of the type described in the above-mentioned patents where the toothed wedges are replaced by ribbed wheels.
WO 92/12766 describes a gripping device for gripping a cord which supports a ball.
One problem associated with the known gripping devices is that when placed under excess load, or if the gripping device is defective, the gripped elongate element can pull through the gripping device. Obviously, this is undesirable and could have disastrous consequences.
Another problem associated with the known gripping device is that they are difficult to adjust.
The afore-mentioned problems were addressed in the applicants United Kingdom patent no 2430234.
It is in the nature of gripping devices of the type described above that an increasing force on the wire passing therethrough increases the gripping force of the device on the wire. However, it is also in the nature of this type of gripping device that the element which engages the wire to lock it with respect to the device causes the wire to deform. It can therefore arise that the wire has been subjected to such force that the gripping device has flattened the wire to an extent that it is not possible for the gripping element of the device to penetrate the surface of the wire sufficiently to support the force applied. This can cause the wire to release from the gripping device.
There is a demand to use the types of gripping device described above with heavier loads.
It would therefore be desirable to provide such a gripping device. It is an aim of the present invention to provide such a device.